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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0690.PDF
384 WAR IN THE AIR appears that since then the Germans have moved the centre of their U-boat manufacture back to Kiel, from which they moved it to Gdynia some time ago. One knows the really remarkable capacity the Germans pos- sess for repairing bomb damage, and they may have got Kiel into some sort of shape again during its period of quiescence. So now the American Fortresses have been going to Kiel once again, and have aimed their bombs on U-boat yards there, doubt- less with their customary precision. The Admiralty has just announced that, recently a convoy made its way through to Russia in the teeth of the most determined attacks from the air and from submarine and through a most terrific gale. All the ships got through safely, but there were losses on the return journey. Every U-boat raptured or destroyed, in a pen or in the open sea, removes a definite danger to British seamen. Petrol by Air Transport aircraft have again been doing a great job of work. The great problem of qur Generals ifl the West has been that of supply for their Slumns. Despite the ailway bridges over ican trucks have been 2,000 tons of sup- armour and other ut this did not in- all went by trans- getting it up to have been dangerous A. men of the Luft- en fighting with more than most of the Ger- have lately displayed, ON THE HOME GROUND : A Norwegian pilot led a strong force of rocket-firingCoastal Command Mosquitoes to attack an enemy ship in Dalsfiord. The ship was left in a sinking condition. rapidly moving destruction of the Rhl so "plies daily forward tr<to dude petro, m and they are now very fine shots. Fortunately, a number of airfields have been captured, and the petrol has probably been landed on them. At any rate, shortage of fuel is not known to have held up any of the armoured columns which have been ramping so speedily across the Father- land. An interesting, but not now im- portant, example of the Germans' skill and persistence in repair work has been found in the Eder dam, which is now in Allied hands. It is virtually intact. No sooner had it been breached by that very gallant attack by Lancasters two years ago than the Germans started work on PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHED : This Fortress was shot down whileon a special mission to photograph the landing of American airborne troops over the Rhine. repair, building large numbers of houses for the workmen. They kept the level of the water in it low to deceive, if possible, the interpreters of the photographs taken by our recon naissance aircraft. But the British High Command had lost interest in the dam, and the repair work was allowed to proceed. Now that the Kuhr has been isolated, the dam can do no harm to the Allies. Produc- tion is of far less interest to our High Command than is distribution, and so oil and railway centres absorb most of the energies of Bomber Command. Gen. Eisenhower has stated his opinion that there will be no clean cut surrender of the German armies, and that V-Day will be signalised only by an Allied proclamation. Probably this will be followed by extensive "mopping-up" operations, which are likely to call for the employment of Jarge numbers of troops. Allied air power should be able to prevent such_ operations from being unduly profit longed. German guerilla bands will have no outside friends to drop weapons to them by parachute, as the Maquis and other resistance move- ments had. v Japan at Her Last Gasp Japan seems to have realised that she is at her'last gasp. Gen. Koiso and his Cabinet have resigned en masse, and the aged Admiral Suzuki has been called from his retirement to become Prime Minister. In Japan a swing from Army to Navy in her poli tics usually means a diminution of the spirit of aggression. In general terms, her Army is usually pro-German in •„,, sympathy, while her Navy always' re- tains a certain feeling of respect for Britain and her sea power. Scarcely had the change of Govern-
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